Change This, Change That
by Amarin Rose
Summary: Pairing: Rogue–Pietro Summary: After running into Pietro one day, Rogue realizes something extraordinary: they can touch. Rogue changes, becoming less Goth and more girl, and Pietro finally stands up to his father. But when the X Men find out... COMPLETE
1. Starting Slow

**Starting Slow**

* * *

_This story is technically a sequel to my Kurt/Kitty fic 'Sweets For The Sweet.' You don't need to have read it enjoy this fic, but you might understand Rogue's POV in this chapter a bit better if you do._

* * *

Quickly checking to make sure Kitty hadn't followed her to their room, Rogue went to stand by the window. She waited with baited breath for the signal – there it was! She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the three pebbles hit her window in quick succession.

Opening the balcony windows, she carefully shimmied down the nearby ivy trellis to the ground. Smoothing her clothes down, she headed off to 'their' spot.

Knowing it was wrong to keep their relationship a secret didn't keep her from doing it anyway. If the others found out, they'd go ballistic. They wouldn't understand her going out with one of the 'enemy'. Never mind that the so-called 'enemy' were teenagers just like them.

Her friends wouldn't understand – the X-Men, anyway. The Brotherhood might – after all, she had been one of them. Most of the X-Men who had opposed Kitty's brief relationship with Lance still thought she was better off with Kurt. And she was, no doubt about it. Kitty didn't have much in common with Avalanche, aside from their shared pasts. They'd both realized it after two months, and the break-up was mutual.

Kitty and Kurt had gotten together a few weeks before Valentine's Day. They were **extremely** happy together, and Rogue was happy for them. But all the lovey-dovey **crap** they put her through was enough to make her spit.

That's why, when the first signs of spring appeared – namely, something higher than thirty-degree weather – she'd gone for a walk. And that's when she'd met **him**.

* * *

She'd been walking in the woods, wearing a sleeveless green knit dress that only came to mid-calf. True, fifty degrees wasn't really warm enough for it, especially since she hadn't worn a jacket, but her solitary walks in the woods were one of the one times she felt safe not wearing tights and long-sleeves, and she wasn't about to cover herself from neck to ankles just because it was a little chilly.

They'd run into each other – literally – in the Cyprus grove about half a mile from school. He had fallen down on top of her, his face inches from her own. Pietro had managed to slow down enough so that his greater inertia didn't cause him to hurt her too much.

But he had come into contact with the bare skin of her left arm. By the time they noticed his hand had remained there long enough for the pull to start – but it didn't. Seconds ticked away while they both gazed at the point of contact.

Finally, he spoke. "I always wondered."

"Wondered what?" she breathed, looking up into his ice-blue eyes.

"Whether or not your skin would have any effect on me," Pietro returned, before rising onto his knees and grasping her ungloved hand in his own to pull her into a sitting position.

He contemplated their joined palms for a moment before continuing, "Most people think my mutation is just speed, but that's not entirely it. It's kinda like Superman's invisibility aura – anything inside it is brought up to my speed – which is why I've never run out of my clothes." He grinned rakishly.

She gave him a small smile in return, while trying not to draw attention to the fact that she was stroking the palm of his hand with her thumb. "And being able to take someone else with you when you run?"

"Mm-hm."

"But what does that have ta do with…" She glanced down at their joined hands, flushing and pulling away when she realized what she was doing.

She didn't stop, however. It felt too good to finally be touching someone without worrying about her powers kicking in.

"My metabolism is really fast, so fast that all the energy it produces isn't contained in my skin. That's where the aura comes from," Pietro explained. "But my cells are always moving, much faster than everyone else's. So fast, in fact, that your mutation can't catch them."

"Oh." She looked at him, noticing once again, how even though it was late March, all he wore was jeans and a long-sleeved shirt.

He smiled sardonically. "Increased metabolism, kinda like Fuzzy's, remember? Everyone thinks he's always warm because of the fur, but most of it is probably due to his metabolism. Like mine. Not only do I have to eat more the more I run – like Wagner – but also my core temperature is about eight degrees higher than yours. So I don't overheat when I run."

She nodded.

Inching closer, Pietro pointed out, "Speaking of cold…Roguey, you're not really dressed for this weather. I realize it's warmer today than it has been, but you need to be wearing something with sleeves."

Scowling, Rogue said, "Don't call me that, Speedy."

Pietro inclined his head in agreement. "All right, **Rogue**. But why are you dressed like that? Not that I'm not enjoying the view." He leered playfully at her breasts, causing her to rise to her feet and cross her arms over her chest. He followed and stood, hands on his pockets, waiting for her to answer.

Seeing her attempt at misdirection had failed, she admitted grudgingly, "Ah go for walks, sometimes, out here…alone. Ah don't have ta worry about accidentally touching someone, because normally no one is around. Ah don't have ta cover up – so Ah don't." She gave him a hard look, just daring him to laugh.

But all she saw was understanding.

"I know what you mean," Pietro confided. He started walking back the direction she'd come, and she fell into step with him. "Compared to me, everyone else seems to go by at a snail's pace. I hate having to slow down for everyone – so I go for runs every once in a while." He gestured back the way he'd come. "I go as far as I can, as fast as I can."

"How far've you gotten?" Rogue asked curiously.

Grinning widely, Pietro said, "One Saturday I made it to the edge of Kentucky in less than three hours. The trip back took a little longer since I was tired, but it was fun." His look turned contemplative as he confided, "Running is a great way to get away from my problems. I can just unconsciously avoid objects, so when I'm running it's like all I have to think about is running. I can just…be…" He looked away, as if embarrassed to have revealed so much.

Snaking her hand over to clasp his again, she said, "That's…that's kinda how Ah feel when Ah swim."

"You swim?" Pietro's head turned so fast she didn't even see it move.

She nodded, blushing at what she was about to reveal. "Ah, uh…skinny-dip, actually. At night. Ah can't go in tha pool when anyone else is there and if it's only meh there's no reason ta wear a suit."

Instead of the leering expression she expected, Pietro's smile was almost warm.

"I like swimming, too; for a different reason than running. I can't go as fast in water – no traction. I need to let loose and go every so often, but sometimes its nice to be like everyone else." He looked down, as if scared of what he was starting to feel.

They walked in silence for a moment before Rogue got up her courage and said, "Maybe…sometime…you'd like ta…join meh?" She held her breath once the offer was out, not quite able to believe she'd said it; both hoping and dreading that he'd say yes.

An uncertain expression came over Pietro's face. He ran his hands through his hair, mussing it slightly. "Do you mean to skinny-dip, or to swim? I need to know whether or not to bring a suit." He grinned disarmingly, moment of insecurity forgotten.

Rogue chuckled embarrassedly. "Um, swimmin', Logan'll skewer you if he fahnds ya in the pool, naked."

Pietro smiled softly at her nervousness, his own forgotten in the wake of the excitement their plans brought. "All right, Rogue. What time should I be here?"

Slightly stunned that he'd agreed once he found out he wasn't going to get to see her naked, and pleased that he hadn't backed out, Rogue stuttered, "Uh, midnight's normally when Ah go out. Most everybody's asleep by then. Ah'll meet you out by tha pool tamarraw night, okay?"

"Sounds good," Pietro replied, then, noticing the setting sun, he continued, "I better go, it'll be dark soon and I don't like to run at night. See you tomorrow, at midnight?"

Rogue smiled. "Tamarraw, at midnight," she confirmed, then watched as he sped away.

* * *

She chuckled softly as she thought about their first meeting. She'd been so scared of everything: being able to touch him, what that might mean, the feelings she had for him that she'd suppressed when she joined the X-Men… But luckily, all of her fears were unfounded. She'd worried at the time if perhaps she was settling for him since he was the only person she could touch…but she knew now that that wasn't the case.

It might have precipitated their relationship, but even if she couldn't touch him, she'd want to be with him. She was pretty sure he felt the same way.

The next night she'd snuck out at usual, only this time she was wearing her bathing suit underneath her cover-up. She'd never actually worn it to go swimming before; she normally just took it out with her in case she heard someone coming and needed to put it on quickly.

Padding across the cobblestones surrounding the pool, she made her way over to a deck chair and slipped off her sandals, before sitting down. She anxiously checked her watch – two minutes 'till midnight – and waited for Pietro to show. The illumination provided by the imbedded pool lights cast a warm blue glow over everything and she couldn't help but think how romantic it was.

The peace of her quiet contemplation was shattered by a silver blur which coalesced in front of her into Pietro, holding a small duffle bag. He was wearing a pair of black swim shorts and a gray T-shirt.

"Hey, Rogue," he said bashfully, carding one hand through his fine white hair.

"Heya, Speedy," she said happily, pleased he'd shown up.

He took a good look at her and blinked in surprise. "You're not wearing your makeup," he noted.

"It'd just wash off in tha watah, anyway," she dismissed, but couldn't help but notice how his eyes lingered on her face. Forcing a smile to cover her nervousness, she asked, "You ready ta swim?"

"Sure," he said, throwing his duffle onto a nearby chair and pulling his shirt off.

Rogue rose from the deck chair and shrugged off her cover-up; as the silky garment hit the ground, so did Pietro's jaw.

"Whoa," he breathed.

Rogue blushed and ducked her head. "Yeah, Ah know it's kinda revealing, but since Ah can't wear it around tha others, Ah didn't think Ah needed ta worry 'bout what it looked lahke. It looks okay, doesn't it?" she asked worriedly.

"You look…fantastic," Pietro said sincerely.

And she did. Her suit was a low-cut bikini that managed to look sexy without being slutty. It was a dark forest green of a shade which matched her eyes. And it fit her perfectly, hugging every curve.

Rogue giggled slightly and fought the urge to cross her arms over her – in her opinion – bare chest. She shivered as a gust of wind blew past her. "It's still kinda cold outside, but tha pool's heated. Ya wanna get in?"

"Yeah. How quiet do we have to be?"

"Not very. We're almost two blocks away from tha house. As long as we keep it down ta a dull roar, we should be fine."

"Then bomb's away!" Pietro shouted and ran for the pool, cutting the surface of the water cleanly with his dive. He surfaced and wiped his now streaming hair back from his face. "Come on in, babe, the water's fine."

"Babe?" Rogue chuckled. She walked over to the edge of the pool near Pietro and sat down, dangling her legs in the water. Pietro swam over next to her and hung onto the side of the pool.

"Well, I wasn't sure before, but seeing you in that suit, I am now." Pietro grinned. "You are a babe, babe," he proclaimed.

Her tinkling laugh echoed off the surface of the water. "Whatevah ya say, Speedy."

"I thought we were going to swim?" Pietro asked, looking up at her. "Why aren't you in the water? I thought you were cold."

"Ah'm just gettin' used ta tha temperature," she said. In truth, she was nervous about swimming with him – they were wearing almost nothing, and her newfound knowledge that she could touch him was whispering naughty ideas in her mind.

"It's better to just jump in," Pietro said, and before she knew what he was doing, he grabbed her legs and yanked her into the water.

She came up sputtering and glared at him, her wet hair hanging in her face. "That was **not** funny, Silver," she spat, water dripping down and plastering her hair to her face.

"Oh, I think it was," he argued.

Smirking slyly, Rogue splashed him quickly and laughed as he coughed on the water. "Take that!"

"Oh, so that's how you wanna play, it huh?" He grinned almost manically. "Water fight!"

And those words were very prophetic – sheets of water were aimed and fired at each other, until they were entirely drenched. Pietro's speed was not much help in the water, but it gave him enough of an edge that soon he was able to force her into a corner.

"Do you give?" he asked breathlessly, their lips inches apart.

Very aware of their precarious positions, and really not giving a damn, Rogue breathed out, "Nevah."

A wicked grin crossed his face and he whispered, "Then I guess I'll have to try a different kind of persuasion." With that, he leaned in the last few inches necessary to seal their lips together.

Warm, wet, sweet…and **so** good. That was what Pietro tasted like. His lips moved against hers in a rhythm as old as time, as if they'd spent hours doing this before. She could definitely imagine spending hours doing this in the future.

Finally, after a long while spent just trading kisses back and forth, they broke apart with a gasp. For seemingly endless moments, they just started at each other, panting.

Rogue was the one who finally broke the silence. "Wow," she breathed softly.

"Yeah, wow," Pietro agreed, grinning boyishly. Ducking his head, he asked the surface of the pool water, "Would you, uh…maybe…like to do that again?"

Titling his head up, she said, "Oh, yes," and captured his lips in a searing kiss.

* * *

And that was the start of their relationship. They had to meet in secret, so couldn't spend as much time together as they might have wanted, but they made it work. Rogue was a loner anyway, so no one thought anything of her not eating lunch with the other Institute kids; she and Pietro would go off-campus courtesy of his speed powers and enjoy lunch at some out of the way place all the way across town. He'd come over after school occasionally and join her for her afternoon walks.

And once or twice a week, they'd meet in the middle of the night to go swimming.

Rogue liked the swimming most of all, but it presented certain…problems. Namely the fact that they could almost never last more than ten minutes in the pool before they started making out. For some reason they never had that problem in any other location; sure, they kissed, but it wasn't this all-consuming need coupled with an inability to keep their hands off each other.

And Rogue kept wishing that she had the courage to show up one night without her suit and suggest they go skinny-dipping.

* * *

And this night, exactly one month after their first meeting was no different than any of their other swim-meets. Five minutes after he'd arrived, Pietro had her backed against the wall in the shallow end of the pool and was kissing her senseless.

As Pietro's hand caressed her spandex-clad breast, Rogue gasped out, "We shouldn't be doing this."

Stilling, Pietro looked into her eyes. "Why shouldn't we do this?" It seemed as if he would be willing to stop if she gave him a good enough reason – or just asked.

Trying to think through the haze of lust in her mind, Rogue finally came up with, "What if they catch us?"

Pietro smiled softly. "They've never caught you out here before, have they?"

Rogue shook her head.

"Then what makes you think that just because I'm here they'll find us?" Pietro asked shrewdly.

"Ah don't know…paranoia?" she offered, grinning wryly.

Leaning in close, Pietro whispered against her lips, "It's only paranoia if they're **not** out to get you," before catching her lips up in a fierce kiss.

Long moments later, when they finally pulled apart, Rogue asked, voice thick, "How…how far do ya want ta go?" She had an anxious look on her face and was nibbling nervously on her lower lip.

Stroking her face gently, Pietro said, "However far you want to go is fine with me, Rogue."

She looked down and said, "Ah'd…kinda lahke ta go slow."

He tipped her head up and smiled softly. "I can do slow." Their lips met in a tender caress, Pietro's hands moving their explorations back up to her shoulders.

Slow was good.

Very good.


	2. Confrontations And Togetherness

**Confrontations And Togetherness**

* * *

It wasn't until about a month later that Rogue realized how much her secret rendezvous with Pietro had changed her. She never wore her make-up when she went swimming, that was a given. What was the point, when it would just get washed off? But she hadn't realized that she'd gotten out of the habit of wearing it whenever she was with Pietro, swimming or not. It seemed so natural to go without it, that she never noticed.

At least, not until the morning she accidentally headed to school without first applying her Gothic face paint.

She'd walked down the hall from her and Kitty's shared room, past half a dozen shocked kids, wondering what the hell was up with them. It wasn't until she entered the kitchen and saw Scott and Evan's stunned faces that she got an answer as to why all the other students were giving her the eye and acting as if she'd grown another head, complete with white-striped hair.

"Rogue!" Scott sputtered. "What happened to your face?"

Rogue froze, finally realizing that she'd forgotten a part of her normal morning routine: applying her Goth make-up. _Might as well make the best of it,_ she thought wryly. "Why, Cyke, Ah thought ya lahked the natural look," she said, smiling mock-innocently, and baring her teeth in a vicious grin.

Gulping, and realizing he'd made a grievous tactical error – no man should comment on a woman's makeup for fear of offending her with his ignorance – Scott stuttered, "Ah…er…"

Clapping a hand on his shoulder, Evan smirked. "Don't say anything, man," he advised. "Your foot is already so far down your throat it's digesting."

Scott flushed and backed away from the glowering redhead in front of him before turning tail and hightailing it to the garage.

Rogue and Evan just looked at each other for a moment before breaking out with loud peals of laughter. High-fiving each other, they followed after Scott, who had apparently forgotten he was giving them a ride to school that day.

* * *

Rogue spent the whole day fielding disbelieving looks from the other teenagers at Bayville High. The other Institute kids, the Brotherhood guys, the nerds, the jocks… All of them made comments at some point or another.

_God, don't these people have **lives**?_ Rogue thought disbelievingly.

She ran into Duncan right after first period. God, the boy was annoying; she was **so** glad Jean had dumped him.

Now if only she'd get together with Scott, who'd been practically **pining** after her for years…

"So, should I start calling you 'The Skank Formerly Known as Goth'?" came the sickeningly self-assured voice from behind her. "Or maybe we should call the police and report that your make-up has been stolen."

Whirling around, Rogue came to face to chest with Bayville's resident Golden Boy.

God, how she wanted to take him down a peg.

And take out some of her pent-up aggression on his dyed-blond head.

Growling low in her throat, Rogue shot back, "No, moron, Ah don't think so. But why don't **you** call Dorothy and ask her to take you to see the Wizard?"

Smiling at his friends as if to say, 'This should be good,' Duncan asked her, "And why should I do that, Vampira?"

Rogue smirked at the predictable insult – after all, it was the only thing he ever called her since she and Kitty appeared in the Dracula play. _Can we say 'No Imagination' boys and girls?_ "So ya can ask him fer a brain. Or maybe some courage. Ah'd say ya should ask him for ah heart, 'cept Ah don't think there's room in there fah it **and** yer enormously over-inflated ego." With that, she turned on her heel and strode away, leaving Duncan behind, steaming, his face turning red.

Unfortunately, before she could make it to her next class, she had a run-in with Shelly, the school bicycle, and her posse of Barbie Doll clones.

The blond cheerleader chuckled as she looked Rogue up and down.

"What're **you** laughing at, Slutty?" Rogue growled. She was in no mood to deal with little miss fucks-a-lot. Especially on **top** of dealing with Duncan.

_On top – bet that's the way she likes it,_ Rogue thought, choking back her mirth. Bursting out laughing before she'd gotten in more than one good jibe just wouldn't do.

Blue eyes flashed at the slur. "Decided to give up the Living Dead Girl look, Vampira?" Shelly sneered. "Maybe now you'll actually be able to get a date," she taunted.

Rogue smirked. _Talking about a copycat; geez, Duncan's really scraping the bottom of the barrel with this bitch._ "You laugh at me because Ah'm different…Ah laugh at **you** because you're all the same. Carbon copies of each other. At least **Ah'm** an original." She flipped her chin-length white-streaked auburn hair and headed off down the hall to meet Pietro for lunch. She **really** needed a break from all this teenage angst.

* * *

With confrontations like that happening between **every** **single class**, it was no wonder that by the time the bell rang to dismiss them for the day, she was furious.

No, beyond furious, she was absolutely livid.

She and Pietro hadn't been able to meet up for lunch – he'd been serving a detention with Lance and Todd for getting into a fight with Duncan, the (small) prick – which hadn't helped her demeanor any. Her temper had simmered down a lot now that she'd gotten together with Pietro; her bitch-fits were few and far between instead of all the time.

Amazing how a guy who couldn't manage to stay still for five seconds had somehow managed to get b **her**, the Queen of Mean, to calm down.

Thankfully for her sanity – and the rest of the world's continued existence – she knew that Pietro would be at the Boardinghouse alone that afternoon – Lance having a date with Tabby, and Todd and Freddy going to the afternoon Creature Double-Feature at the cineplex – so she headed over there. He could always cheer her up.

Of course, maybe slamming open the door and bursting inside the house like a storm trooper while wearing a Berserker Wolverine Death Glare™ wasn't the best idea.

"Somehow I don't think that look in your eyes means you're happy to see me. I'm about to be throttled, aren't I?" Pietro said dryly as Rogue stormed through the now-open door of the Brotherhood house. Her expression was what a charitable person could only term 'homicidal.'

Taking a few deep breaths and letting them out slowly, Rogue managed to calm herself enough to answer, "You aren't, but Scott is." _And the rest of the student body, starting with Duncan and Slutty Shelly,_ she thought angrily.

"What'd One-Eye do?" Pietro asked curiously.

Opening her mouth to answer, Rogue closed it with a snap before saying a word. She shifted uncomfortably, eyes on the floor. "Ah…he just ticked meh off, is all."

Raising one snowy brow, Pietro said, "Now why do I think there's more to it than that?"

Huffing, Rogue said, "He made a big deal out of meh leavin' off mah make-up today, all right?"

Pietro frowned. "Well, while I do think you look good with the Gothic stuff off, why should it bother you that he thinks so, too?"

"It was tha way he worded it; he made it sound lahke Ah looked awful," Rogue grumbled, tucking one white streak behind her ear and staring at the floor. "And people have been starin' at meh all day long!"

"They're just in awe of your beauty, babe," Pietro joked. "I know I am." Reaching out with one slim hand, he tugged her close and down to sit in his lap. "You're beautiful, Roguey," he murmured, nuzzling her ear. "And if Cyclops was such an idiot that he couldn't see that without you leaving your make-up off…well, that explains why he has such bad luck with women, doesn't it?"

Rogue smiled; yes, Pietro always knew what to say to make her feel better.

* * *

After spending a few more hours cuddled up – and making out – with her boyfriend, Rogue headed back to the mansion, heart lightened.

Little did she know, a thundercloud was about to rain on her parade.

Unfortunately, while it is true that every cloud has a silver lining, conversely, this also means that every silver lining has a cloud.

She called Pietro 'Silver' sometimes, for his hair. He had his own dark clouds on the horizon by the name of Magneto, one Erik Magnus Lensherr.

* * *

**Two Weeks Later**

* * *

"What's wrong, Speedy?" Rogue asked. They'd been walking through the woods for almost ten minutes, and the silver-haired speedster had yet to say a word beyond 'His.'

Giving her an inscrutable look, Pietro seemed to deflate. "Magneto saw us together the other day," he said in a low voice.

For a moment Rogue was sure she'd forgotten how to breathe. _Oh, wow…this is bad,_ she thought hazily.

And she wasn't thinking about her incipient self-suffocation, either.

"What…what did he say?" she asked faintly, vaguely surprised that she was able to come up with a coherent sentence.

"He went on and on about treason and how I was worse than Lance for dating Kitty since you'd defected, and he thought Lance might actually get Pryde to join us," Pietro said sullenly. He brightened. "But I managed to turn the tables on him."

"Ya managed ta get 'im ta back off?" Rogue asked incredulously. "How?"

"I hit him where it hurts!" Pietro announced. He started pacing back and forth almost too fast to see, obviously powered by the remembered adrenaline high from taking out Magneto.

"In tha balls?" Rogue grimaced at the thought of actually touching Magneto **there**, even if it would be through at least two layers of clothing.

Pietro snorted. "No, in his ego!"

"Huh?" Rogue said intelligently.

Pietro sighed and slowed down. "I made it sound like he was an idiot for not realizing what I was doing."

"Which was?" Rogue prompted tetchily.

"Trying to get you to come back to the fold, of course." Pietro rolled his eyes at the irony.

Rogue snorted, not believing Pietro would do something like that for one minute. Quite a change from when she'd first been a part of the Brotherhood and had believed the worst of all the boys, Pietro chief among them. "And Buckethead bought that?"

Eyes dancing with mirth at the insult to his father – no love lost there – Pietro said, mock-innocently, "Why wouldn't he? I'm his loyal, faithful son."

"And you hate his guts," Rogue stated confidently, having learned that in the first three weeks she and Pietro were together. They'd talked a lot about their 'parents' – Pietro about Magneto, Rogue about Mystique and Irene – and how betrayed they felt by them.

It was amazing how much they had in common – not all of it good, but shared experiences still brought them closer together.

"You know it, babe," Pietro said tiredly.

They started walking again, side by side, hands brushing up against each other every few steps. Finally Rogue couldn't take the silence anymore.

"What are weh gonna do about Magneto?" Rogue asked.

"Why do we have to do anything?" Pietro asked, though there was a defeated tone his voice. They both knew they couldn't just stand idly by and hope nothing bad happened.

That would be foolish. Criminally stupid, in fact. Especially considering who they were.

After all, Wanda was only now starting to calm down after having her memories replaced – yet **again**. This time she had the real ones, but she wouldn't be forgiving her father any time soon, if ever.

If she'd been at the Boardinghouse that afternoon, Pietro wouldn't have had to deal with Magneto.

She would have killed him.

"Ah mean, am Ah gonna have ta pretend Ah wanna rejoin tha Brotherhood? Are we gonna have ta stop seein' each other…" Rogue broke off her question as she saw the look in Pietro's eyes.

The light of near-madness. She'd only ever seen Logan wear that expression before – when he was lost in a Berserker Rage.

When Pietro grabbed her and pulled her into a fierce kiss, she knew she probably **should** have been scared…

But she wasn't.

Was this love?

And if it wasn't…then what was it?

Pietro finally pulled away from her lips, allowing her to breathe once more. The slightly-insane glint in his eyes had faded somewhat, but it was still simmering underneath his regained composure, and in the kisses he continued to pepper her with.

"You're **mine**, Rogue," he hissed between kisses. "And no one and **nothing** is going to come between us," he vowed, pulling back from his sensual assault once she was once again out of breath and trembling with arousal.

But she had enough control of her faculties to think. "Not even your father?" she asked softly, her eyes searching his.

His expression softened. "Not even Magneto, Marie," he said, using her real name for the first time since she'd revealed it to him.

She nodded and wrapped her arms around him, secure in that fact that whatever happened, they'd face it together.


	3. Not So Divided Loyalties

**Not-So-Divided Loyalties**

* * *

A month later, they were still going strong, though Magneto hung over their heads like a veritable dark cloud on the horizon.

Or the Sword of Damocles.

And it was about to cut deep into their lives.

* * *

"I think we should tell Wanda about us," were the first words out of Pietro's mouth.

Rogue blinked up at her boyfriend, the unexpected words coupled with his sudden arrival almost causing her to choke on her frozen drink. She'd been sitting at a small outdoor café in downtown Bayville, waiting for Pietro to show up. She'd expected him to be late since he had basketball practice, so had gotten herself something to drink while she waited – which she was now considering a bad idea. Pietro had said he had something he needed to talk to her about, but she hadn't counted on it being something like this.

"Ya do?" Rogue asked when she was sure she wasn't going to swallow her tongue along with her strawberry smoothie.

Pietro nodded, sitting backwards in the chair across from her. "Something's up with Magneto – I don't know what, but I have a feeling it isn't good. We need someone on our side if he goes off the deep end."

"Interesting phrasing there, Silver – considering that that last time Ah saw Wanda, **she** was off tha deep end," Rogue sniped. She wasn't being very charitable; she knew how bad Wanda's life had been. But that didn't change the fact that Wanda was not completely sane. And Rogue wasn't sure that the Scarlet Witch had any loyalties to anyone but herself – not even her brother.

Pietro sighed, resting his forehead on his folded arms. "I know," he mumbled. "But I can't really blame her for how she feels. I was just a kid; I couldn't do anything. But Magneto…" His head rose up, determined expression meeting her eyes. "She's just starting to let herself trust me again, and I know if we keep this from her it could ruin everything. Plus, she's the only one I know who could go up against Magneto and possibly win. Hell, Mister 'Master of Magnetism' is scared of her – so scared that he isn't even going to try and lock her up again simply because he knows she'd try – and maybe succeed – to kill him if did."

Rogue considered her boyfriend's words. Though she thought Pietro might have motivated in this instance more by his need to rebuild his lost relationship with his twin, his words held a ring of truth. They could have no greater ally against Magneto than Wanda.

The question was, would Wanda ally herself with them? True, she held no love – and much hate – for Magneto, but would she put herself up against him for them? For a brother she was just getting to know again after eight years, and a girl she'd spent almost no time with outside of battles?

And battling against each other, to boot.

"Do ya think she'd help?" Rogue finally asked, twirling her straw in her rapidly melting frozen drink.

"She's been talking about leaving the Brotherhood and going off to live by herself," Pietro revealed. "And she wouldn't have mentioned it to me unless she thought I could be trusted. She's even given some veiled hints about asking me to go with her."

"Would you?" Rogue asked worriedly. Pietro leaving the Brotherhood could be both a good and a bad thing. Good because he'd be out from under Magneto's – and consequently Mystique's – thumb, and bad because who knew how the 'Master of Magnetism' would retaliate?

After all, he'd locked his own daughter up in an insane asylum. She wasn't crazy when she went in, but she wasn't all there when she came out. Magneto wasn't stupid enough to go after Wanda even if she defied him and left, but…

What would he do to his son if Pietro defected?

"I've been thinking about it," he said seriously. "If I did leave, it would be safer for everyone involved if I left Bayville."

Rogue's breath caught in her throat. She knew that Pietro was fast, and unless he moved halfway across the country, they could probably still see each pretty often. But still…

"However, I figure that there's safety in numbers, and if I stay here, you and the X-Geeks could help us fight Magneto if he tries something," Pietro continued.

Breathing a silent sigh of relief, Rogue said, "Sounds like ya've got this all worked out."

Pietro shrugged. "I haven't talked with Wanda about it, but I figured I'd better have something to bring to the conversation when I do."

Realizing that with their situation – and with how resolved Pietro was on this course of action – that it was only a matter of 'when,' not 'if,' Rogue said, "When do ya want ta tell her?"

Pietro smiled.

* * *

The talk went surprisingly well, considering. Wanda only threatened to hex either of them a total of five times, and she never followed through on any of them.

That was restraint, for her.

She agreed to help them if Magneto tried something. They, in turn, promised to keep her posted on Buckethead's schemes as they knew them.

Rogue left for the mansion, and Pietro stayed behind, still talking with his sister. They were both making contingency plans in case they had to leave. She had a feeling that neither of them would be staying at the Boardinghouse for much longer.

Which suited her just fine. The sooner Pietro was out of harm's way, the happier she'd be.

Yeah, right. Like any of them would ever be completely out of harm's way.

She could dream, though, right?

* * *

And dreaming got her exactly bupkiss. She and Pietro had planned to see Spiderman that night, one of the few nights she could be assured of not running into anyone else, as the other Institute kids were all busy elsewhere.

And Magneto had the Brotherhood involved in training exercises all afternoon. He'd made Pietro run all the way to New Jersey and back. The speedster would be in no shape for their date.

Damn.

Of course, she didn't want him to push him beyond his limits if he was exhausted, but she also didn't want her boyfriend under that magnetic idiot's thumb.

Sighing, Rogue leaned back against an oak tree in the forest where she and Pietro were supposed to meet. It was wishful thinking on her part, but she'd shown up anyway, even though the chances were slim to none that Pietro would be showing up.

_Or maybe not so slim…_ she thought as a blue and white blur raced through the trees, coming to a stop in front of her.

"Hey, Roguey," Pietro greeted her exuberantly.

"Hey, Silver," Rogue said, smiling. "What are ya doing here?"

Cocking his head to the side, Pietro said, "We had a date to see a human wall-crawler in cinematic action…right?"

"Yeah, but I thought ya'd be tired after all tha running around ya did this afternoon." Rogue's brow furrowed as she looked at her currently very perky boyfriend.

Pietro grinned and shrugged it off. "I downed some Pixi Stix. They're my favorite candy, and a few tubes'll give me a sugar rush that lasts for hours. I always have some in my uniform in case I need a quick boost. And I wasn't about to miss our date."

Rogue smiled shyly, unused to people – especially those of the male persuasion – wanting to spend time with her.

It was a good feeling.

* * *

Two hours later they exited the movie theater, both going over their favorite parts.

"Ah think it would have been nice if they hadn't redone tha city scene so tha World Trade Center wasn't in it," Rogue said. "It would have been a nice homage, don't ya think, Silver?"

Pietro nodded. "Yeah, I really don't get why they were trying to go for so much realism – I mean, Spiderman is a comic book character." He grinned manically. "But that part where the Green Goblin surfaced in the mirror in front of Osborne was **inspired**, man! Talk about being schizophrenic."

Rogue shook her head. "MPD, Speedy. Multiple Personality Disorder. Schizophrenia's a whole different kinda crazy."

"Literally." Pietro smirked.

Rogue shook her head, smiling at his antics. "Well, **Ah** lahked tha kiss in tha rain scene – Toby Maguire is **so** cute," she teased.

Pietro huffed. "Not as cute as me," he stated.

"More modest, anyway," Rogue countered.

"Why should I be modest? I'm fabulous and I know it," Pietro declared with his typical arrogance.

Rogue snorted. "Sure, Silver…"

* * *

A few more weeks went by, and Rogue was starting to relax a little, as it seemed Magneto wasn't planning on starting anything soon.

Little did she know…

* * *

"What! You can't be serious."

"I am completely serious, Pietro," Magneto said firmly.

"I can't just **demand** that Rogue rejoin us – it doesn't work like that," Pietro protested. Flicking a glance at Mystique, he added, "And as long as she's part of the deal, I don't think Rogue would ever come back."

Magneto sighed theatrically. "Pietro, Mystique is a valued ally…"

"Who betrayed Rogue," Pietro broke in. Outwardly he was calm, almost unruffled. Inwardly, he was shaking like a leaf. "It takes more than a few weeks of friendship to get someone to change sides. After all, it took both Mystique **and** Destiny betraying her to get Rogue to go over to the X-Geeks."

The blue shapeshifter glared at him, but said nothing. She knew he was right.

Releasing another sigh, Magneto said, "Pietro, if you have as much influence over the girl as you say you do, you should be able to convince her to come back to us. If you don't by now, then you never will, and we should cut our losses."

"Cut our losses?" Pietro asked, uncomprehending. _What, does he want me to break up with her?_

"Kill her," Magneto said succinctly.

"You can't!" Pietro exclaimed, too caught up in the horror of what his father was suggesting to censor his words.

"Pietro, I am your father, you will do as I say," Magneto commanded.

_How **dare** he even suggest such a thing?_ Pietro thought, outraged.

Rage boiled up inside Pietro like lava from a volcano, searing every scrap of caution in its path. He neither knew nor cared about being circumspect. He'd spent most of his life loathing, if not outright **hating** his father, and this was the last straw.

"Father?" Pietro scoffed. "A father is a man who either sired you or raised you. Now the siring part I unfortunately can't refute, but the raising part…?" He shook his head. "I've spent more time with you in this past year than in the whole rest of my life. And considering I've only spent about a month and half total with you this past year, that's pretty pathetic. I don't want anything to do with you or your pathetic cause." Glaring at Magneto, he spat out, "So why don't you and the blue bitch," here he glanced at Mystique, "fuck **off**! Or maybe just fuck each other." He grinned nastily. "I know you've been doing that off and on for years. Who knows? Maybe me and Wanda are actually related to Fuzzball." With that, he sped off, to the mansion…and Rogue.

Magneto just hung there, in midair, both pleased and furious. Pleased because Pietro had finally shown some ambition…and furious because he used it to leave the Brotherhood…and him.

After contemplating his children's decision for a moment, he finally decided to let them be. They had chosen to side with the X-Men, so they were now the enemy. However, should they choose to come back, he would accept them with no questions asked. He may have been a bastard of a father, but he would support his children's choice in this instance…even if it was to oppose him.

Sighing in regret to losing his offspring to his greatest enemy and oldest friend, he nodded to Mystique and flew away, hoping that one day he wouldn't end up having to kill his children…or being killed by them.


	4. Speeding Up

**Speeding Up**

* * *

Pietro zipped up the stairs of the Boardinghouse and came to a stop inside his sister's room. After a few tense moments of speed-fidgeting, he decided to just jump in with both feet and hope for the best. "I finally did it, Wan," he announced.

"Did what?" Wanda asked distractedly, rifling through her music collection. "Have you seen my Linkin Park CD?"

"I think Lance borrowed," Pietro said restlessly. "He wanted to try playing 'In The End' on his guitar and was listening to it for hours yesterday."

Wanda shrugged. "I'll track him down later then. So what did you mean you finally did it?" She smirked. "You and Rogue finally do the nasty?"

Pietro flushed. "Ah…no… I meant that I finally told off Magneto." He cringed, waiting for the explosion.

Which never came.

Cracking open one eye, Pietro saw that Wanda, far from holding that look in her eye – and a hex-bolt in her hand – which heralded explosions (which is how he thought she'd react) was just looking at him contemplatively.

"Good for you," she pronounced.

"You're not…upset?" Pietro asked disbelievingly.

"Why would I be?" Wanda asked.

"Well, I mean…I should've talked to you about this first…it affects you too…" Pietro rambled.

Shrugging, Wanda tossed her bangs out of her eyes. "It had to happen sooner or later. You know that as well as I do. Yeah, I would have liked some warning so I could have prepared – so I could have **packed** – but things being as they are, it's not the worst way it could have happened." She arched an eyebrow. "I assume ol' Buckethead is still in one piece?"

"Last I saw of him," Pietro said vaguely.

"He wouldn't have been if it had been me," Wanda said seriously. "So, I suppose that's…for the best," she admitted grudgingly.

Pietro nodded. "So," he said at length. "What do we do now?"

After pondering for a moment, Wanda said, "Get out the Classified section of the newspaper and start looking for an apartment – and jobs."

* * *

Which was exactly what they did. And for once, luck – or maybe just Wanda's hex power – was with them. One week later they had a modest two-bedroom apartment across town, Pietro was delivering packages three afternoons a week and Wanda…

Well, Wanda had used her hex power to convince the manager of a nightclub that she was of legal age so he'd hire her. To do what, she never said. Pietro didn't know exactly what it was she did there – tend bar, waitress…strip – but she assured him that aside from her being underage, it was nothing illegal.

Rogue was at first alarmed that Pietro had undertaken such a risky venture, and then supportive, though still worried for his – and Wanda's – continued safety. She kept tabs on them as the twins started out on their new living arrangements, wanting to know if anything went wrong. She even helped them move their belongings into their new apartment.

Not that there was much that needed to be moved, especially on Wanda's part. And what did need to be moved was mostly handled by Wanda's hex power. Still, it was the thought that counted. Wanda seemed to warm up to the other Goth girl that afternoon.

Pietro, as a consequence of his new job, had less free to time to spend with Rogue, but she didn't mind. It was enough just to know that Pietro was out from underneath Magneto's thumb.

And now that they didn't have to worry about hiding from the Brotherhood, she could visit Pietro at his and Wanda's apartment pretty much whenever she wanted, so it wasn't like they were spending all that much less time together.

Things were going great. Rogue didn't even dare to wonder if perhaps they could be better…

How could they be?

* * *

_Well, foh one thing, they could be better if we were goin' a bit faster,_ Rogue thought grumblingly. Flopping back on her bed, she sighed. She knew she was the one who'd wanted to take it slow, but **seriously**. They were practically moving at a snail's pace since that night. They hadn't progressed at all beyond a little necking.

She frowned. That was mostly her fault, though… She kept holding back – holding **him** back.

It was so hard – no pun intended! – to keep pushing him away. Whenever they were together, all she wanted was to pull him closer. Instead, she kept trying to keep him at arm's length. To keep herself safe, though she'd never felt safer than when she was with him.

For all the good it did her, considering that no matter how innocent her intentions, by the end of the evening, she and Pietro were wrapped around each other like leaves on a vine, devouring each other mouths like they needed each other's air to breathe.

And her resolve to take things slow was starting to seem a little…constraining. She didn't **want** to take things slow any longer.

So…maybe she should speed things up.

* * *

With that in mind, three weeks after Pietro moved out of the Boardinghouse, she made her way up to her shared room, a plan forming in her mind. Pietro would be coming over again the next night, and she'd finally – **finally** – decided to speed things up.

It was partly because she was tired of waiting – hey, girls had hormones, too! – but it was mostly because she'd finally realized how deep her feelings for Pietro ran.

And how deep his for her were, as well.

He'd left the **Brotherhood** for her. Admittedly, not alone – hell, the Brotherhood didn't even really exist anymore; it was just that only the Maximoff twins had actually mutinied. Lance, Tabby, Freddie and Todd were only staying there since they had nowhere else to go.

Xavier would have taken them in, but they were wary of any kindness on the Professor's part – and with good reason.

The X-Men were nicer, had better uniforms and living conditions, and didn't want to use violence to help their cause. From the Brotherhood's point of view, those were the only differences.

Big differences, but none of them were all that good at trusting people.

And she'd never trusted Pietro more; even before he'd moved out of the Boardinghouse. It had just taken his leaving for her to realize it. She didn't need Pietro to join the X-Men to prove how much he cared about her. She hadn't even needed him to defect from the Brotherhood, though she hadn't realized it until today.

She should have realized it a month ago, when he'd first claimed her as his. A tingle had gone through her whole body he'd said, 'You're **mine**,' with such fiercely protective possessiveness.

He didn't need to change for her – but if he wanted to change **with** her…

Well, who was she to hold him – or herself – back?

Slow was good…but faster would be better. A **little** faster, anyway. She only hoped Pietro would be 'up' for a little skinny-dipping.

* * *

"Wow," Pietro breathed, awe-struck.

Rogue blushed, having to fight hard to keep her arms from crossing over her bare chest. She hadn't worn anything underneath her cover-up tonight, and when she'd taken it off…

Well, Pietro was obviously appreciative.

"Ah thought…maybe we should try goin' a little fastah," she said softly, clasping her hands behind her back to help fight the urge to cover herself up.

"Fast is good," Pietro agreed vaguely, eyes roaming over her body. They came to a stop on her breasts, and the speed demon seemed to snap out of his nakedness-induced daze. His icy gaze snapped up to her own green orbs. "But are you sure?"

Gathering her courage and every one of the few ounces of seductiveness she possessed, Rogue allowed a coy smile to settle on her lips. "Ah'm sure of you, sugah," she purred, padding over the terra cotta tiles to stand in front of him. Her hands twisted together behind her back, the only outward sign of her nervousness. She **wanted** to do this; to make love with Pietro.

But did he want the same thing?

_Or, rather, Ah **know** he wants meh,_ Rogue thought mirthfully, noticing the growing bugle in the boy's swim trunks. _But wantin' meh, and bein' ready ta have sex with meh are two completely different things._

After all, she'd **wanted** him pretty much from that first night. But she hadn't been ready until tonight…

Was he?

A shy smile crossed his face. "I have no clue what I did to deserve you in my life, but you are definitely the best thing that ever happened to me," he mumbled under his breath, before pulling her into an almost chaste – considering their mutual lack of clothing – kiss.

She smiled and pulled him over to the pile of blankets on the lawn nearby that she'd set up for just such an event. She'd had a feeling they wouldn't get to the swimming part of the evening. And she wanted a soft place for their mutual exploration.

Slow and steady won the race, after all. And delayed – and subsequently multiplied – gratification was the prize.

* * *

After that, their midnight swims converted to midnight trysts. But with school ending, the students stayed up later, so in order to continue to hide their nocturnal activities, they had to postpone their meetings for a few hours. So it was more like two o'clock in the morning trysts.

And, also with the coming of the summer months, Logan, King of Ruining Kid's Fun, extended his perimeter checks to later in the night.

Unfortunately, like all security measures, unless it directly impacted their lives, the students were told nothing of it. Consequently, Rogue had no clue that Logan would be anywhere near the pool area on one certain Tuesday night, about a week after her and Pietro's relationship 'sped up'.

She was **really** glad they still had their clothes on when the Wolverine showed up. Otherwise Pietro might not have lived long enough to speed away, back to the hotel he'd been staying at with Wanda.

She couldn't help feeling, though, that he should have stayed with her to face the music – and the rabid Logan. But at least she knew he was alive, which was more than she could have said had he stayed.

Now all she had to do was wait for dawn to break – and for the Professor to wake.


	5. The Fast And The Furious

**The Fast And The Furious**

* * *

"Crap, crap, crappity crap, crap, crap." Rogue was pacing back and forth across the living room floor and muttering under her breath. Consequently, she didn't notice the group of just-awakened students that had entered the room.

It was the morning after the night before – well, duh! – and Rogue was anxiously awaiting her punishment/pronouncement/jail sentence by worrying a hole in the floor. Logan had disappeared into the Professor's office over an hour ago, right after the telepath had awoken – and they hadn't come out since.

This did not bode well for her and Pietro's relationship. Or their continued existence, for that matter.

"Whoa, that's a lot of crap," Jamie joked.

Rogue glared at the younger recruit, who didn't seem phased at all. Within one week of arriving, everyone had seen Rogue in 'Bitch Mode' – so the terror that sight originally inspired had, by now, worn off.

Damn.

"Fuck off ya fucking fucker," Rogue said pleasantly, before going back to her pacing.

"And that's a lot of fucking," Evan put in. "What's the problem, man?"

Rogue sighed and broke off her pacing, choosing instead to flop back onto the couch. "Ah am **so** dead."

"You look pretty lively to me," Jamie said.

Rogue glared at him. "Ah meant," she said, measuring her words and delivering them with a diamond-sharp precision that made the others, Jamie included, wince. "That Ah am in **so** much trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Kitty asked compassionately, coming over to sit beside her roommate.

Rogue fidgeted for a moment, before finally saying, "Ah've been seein' someone on tha sly and Logan caught us last night." She tugged on one of her white streaks, a nervous habit when she was afraid for her life.

Or just really **really** worried about its continuance.

Like now.

Evan shrugged, a physical, 'No big deal.' "So? You get grounded for a week or so and then it's over."

Rogue winced. "Not in this case."

"Who've you been dating?" Kitty asked, trying in vain to hide her pout. You'd think Rogue would at least let her **roommate** know about any secret relationships she might be involved in.

Rogue's eyes went wide and she ducked her head. "Pietro," she mumbled so low no one could hear her.

"Who?" Kitty asked.

Taking a deep breath, Rogue said, only slightly louder, "Pietro."

"I still didn't hear you, man," Even complained.

Screwing up her courage – and her lips into a grimace – Rogue blurted out, "Ah've been dating Pietro, okay!"

Kitty gasped. Jamie blinked. Evan's jaw dropped and was joined by Scott's, who'd just arrived with Jean. For the redhead's part, she managed to contain her reaction to a slight widening of her green eyes.

"Maximoff?" Evan choked out.

Rogue nodded guiltily.

"How…" Scott squeaked. He cleared his throat and continued, "How long has this been going on?"

Wincing at their team leader's tone, Rogue ducked her head. "A little ovah three months," she revealed.

"Three months!" Kitty exclaimed. "Rogue, how could you?"

"Yeah, he's Brotherhood, man," Evan broken in, his innate dislike of the speed mutant coming to the fore.

"So was Ah," Rogue said curtly.

"And Lance," Kitty put in.

Recoiling at the sight of the combined glares – and who knew Katherine Pryde could be so vindictive? – Evan put up his hands in a warding gesture, backing away from the female duo slowly. "I'm outta here, man." He turned and high-tailed it out of the room.

"Well," Kitty huffed, sniffing imperiously. "How dare he?"

Rogue shrugged, letting out a deep breath. She smiled brightly. "That didn't make meh feel all that much bettah. At all."

Looking back and forth between the two of them, Jamie cocked his head. "So, if you weren't upset about Rogue dating a member of the Brotherhood, then what did you mean by 'Rogue, how could you?'" he asked Kitty guilelessly.

Rogue's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, Kit; what did ya mean?" she chimed in.

Kitty wrinkled her nose. "I **meant** how could you keep this a secret from me?" she asked, tone aggrieved. "You're not just my roommate, you're also my best friend, Rogue."

"And ya've been spendin' every spare minute with Kurt lately," Rogue pointed out.

Kitty's expression softened. "I didn't mean to shut you out…"

"Ah know, Kit," Rogue said reassuringly. "Ya didn't really have all that much time ta spend with meh and Ah'm okay with that, really. Ah just…needed someone in mah life, too." She ducked her head, focusing her gaze on her lap.

"And you chose**Pietro**?" Scott asked, aghast.

"Why not?" Rogue asked mutinously. "Ah like 'im."

"Aw, shucks, Roguey, I didn't know you felt like that," Pietro quipped from behind her.

"Pietro!" Rogue squealed, jumping up from the couch and into his arms. "What are you doing here?" she asked as she pulled out of his embrace. "If Logan catches you in here he'll **kill** you."

"Too late, Stripes," Logan growled from the doorway.

Being the macho, manly man that he was, Pietro squeaked. "Eeep," he muttered, zipping around to hide behind Rogue.

"The Professor wants to see you in his office – **both** of you," Logan said pointedly, eyeing the white-haired interloper in their midst.

Exchanging an, 'It was nice knowing you,' look, Rogue and Pietro summed up their situation in one simultaneously said word: "Shit."


	6. Familiarity Breeds Contempt – And Love

**Familiarity Breeds Contempt – And Love**

* * *

_Legal age of consent (for sexual activity) in the state of New York is seventeen._

* * *

Standing there before Professor Xavier, Rogue did her best to hold her urge to tremble at bay. It was helped along by the fact that Pietro hadn't sped off, but rather stayed with her to face the music, as it were, and was, at that very moment, holding her hand in his own.

Xavier was just sitting there silently, contemplating them from behind his imposing oak desk. His hands steepled in front of his face, and he was giving them an inscrutable look. It was unnerving, the way Xavier was looking at them – as if he knew everything they were thinking.

Yes, the professor was a telepath, so he **could** know everything they were thinking, but unless it was an emergency – like when Jean's powers had exploded that one time – he normally asked first.

And, thanks to having touched him, Jean, and Magneto, Rogue had enough latent telepathic ability left in her to always know when he – or anyone else – was scanning her. And right now, he wasn't.

_Maybe he's scanning Pietro…_ the thought came unbidden to her mind. She mentally cringed at the thought; who knew what Pietro was thinking at that moment? Most likely worrying himself to death – at five times the normal human rate of thought – like she was, but he could also be reliving the previous night in graphic detail…

Like she was trying not to.

"I must say I was surprised when Mr. Logan informed me of your…relationship," Xavier started the conversation diplomatically. His eyebrows rose as he added, "I was especially intrigued by the fact you two seem to be able to touch with no adverse effects." He glanced pointedly at their joined hands; Rogue's were bare of her usual concealing gloves and their palms were skin-to-skin. "I was unaware that you had gained control of your mutation, Rogue," he said with a note of hope in his voice. They had been searching for a 'cure' for her absorption power ever since she had first joined the X-Men over a year previously.

Rogue's cheeks heated up in blush and she frowned slightly at the hopeful look on both the Professor and Logan's faces. "Ah…Ah haven't, Professor," she said, and watched as the two men's faces fell. "We, ah…just found out that Pietro is immune ta mah power."

Pietro had been eyeing the two men warily, as if sensing some deception on their part, but at Rogue's words he felt the need to add his own. Nodding jerkily, he said, eyes focused on the floor, "My molecules go too fast for Roguey's power to get a lock on 'em…or something." He shrugged, indicating that it was just a guess on their parts.

Logan grimaced – at the fact that Rogue hadn't found a way to control her power, or that Pietro was apparently the only one she could touch, neither of the teens could tell. Xavier also sighed sadly at the revelation.

Clearing his throat softly to regain his composure, Xavier said, trying for tactful and falling short because of his own discomfort with the subject matter, "Be that as it may, there is no reason for you to be so…" He fumbled for words, "…intimate with each other just because you can."

Anger riled up by the dismissive way Xavier was talking, Rogue didn't pause to think that there was another type of intimacy he could be referring to. She also didn't remember that the Professor had never had a problem with Kitty dating Lance way back when. "Professor, if ya think we shouldn't be tagether just because he's in tha Brotherhood…"

"That's not it, Rogue," Xavier interrupted her before she could tell him of Pietro's change of allegiance.

Rogue's brow wrinkled in befuddlement. If it wasn't the fact that they were on different sides, what could Xavier have to be upset about?

"Then what is it?" Pietro asked diffidently. He squirmed under the heated glare Logan turned his way, as if the older mutant as angry with him for daring to speak.

Knowing the Wolverine, that was most likely the case. A pacifist, he was not.

Xavier took a deep breath as if preparing to launch into a difficult speech. "While I am a tad concerned that you are involved in a secret relationship with a member of the Brotherhood…"

Whatever Xavier had been about to say was interrupted by a commotion outside his office. A fast-paced knock sounded, and Logan moved to open the door, only to be almost bowled over by a jittering Scott, protective sunglasses askew and hair in disarray.

"Mr. Summers, what seems to be the problem?" Xavier asked, smoothly covering his irritation at the interruption with an inquiring look as he transferred his attention from the worrying pair of would-be lovers to the anxious young man in his doorway.

"Wanda Maximoff hexed her way through the gates and is now waiting in the front hall, demanding to see her brother," Scott reported, sending a glare towards the mutant in question.

All eyes turned on Pietro, who just blinked in mild shock. Flushing slightly, he ducked his head. "Well, I kinda didn't go home last night – I was worried about Rogue!" he added defensively when Logan turned his snarling countenance on the speed demon.

"Why would that bring Wanda here, though?" Scott asked, his irritation plain to see even though his eyes were hidden behind his visor. "I didn't get the feeling she liked you all that much."

"Maybe she got worried?" Pietro offered weakly, knowing even as he said it how unlikely that sounded. Most probable she was just mad about him skipping out on his turn to make dinner that evening.

Logan snorted and leaned back against the wall in his habitual pose, arms crossed over his chest. "From what I've seen, I thought the witch would cheerfully dance on pretty boy's grave if he died."

Pietro huffed in indignation, crossing his arms over his chest and pointedly turning his back on the Wolverine. His relationship with his sister was strained, true, but it wasn't **that** bad.

There was only a fifty-fifty chance she'd go to his funeral, however.

Xavier cleared his throat, hiding a smile at this display of ruffled feathers on the peacock in their midst. "Logan, there's no need for that," he chastised.

"Yeah, Wolvie; play nice with mah boyfriend," Rogue said, emphasizing her second and last words. She grinned widely as Logan winced; it was hard to tell if he hated her calling him 'Wolvie' more than the fact that Pietro Maximoff was her boyfriend.

"Shouldn't you get out there?" Scott broke into the building confrontation. He turned his haggard and frazzled countenance towards Pietro's back. "She's already scorched the marble flooring in the entryway. With the mood Wanda's in, she's liable to obliterate the whole mansion trying to find you!"

"Er…yeah, probably," Pietro said in a dull tone. He obviously wasn't looking forward to facing his sister.

Rogue shook her head in exasperated frustration. Glaring at his, she pointed towards the door. "Silver, grow a pair and get out there!" she growled at him, her tone a fair imitation of Wolverine's, 'I'm pissed off, bub, so ya better do what I say,' voice.

Blushing, Pietro squeaked, "Right away, dear," and zipped out the door.

* * *

Things were tense in the entry hall of the Xavier Institute.

More than tense; it would take Wolverine's Adamantium claws to cut through the apprehension in the air, it was so thick.

So it was with no small amount of relief – and an even greater deal of hope – that the X-Men watching their fuming visitor from the (hopefully) safe distance of the periphery of the room saw Pietro stick his head around the corner of the hall doorway.

"Wanda!" Pietro cried, going over to give his sister a hug. A hug that, for once, she accepted instead of rebuffed – sort of.

She didn't push him away for at least two seconds, and the shove wasn't followed by a hex.

Rogue came upon the scene just in time to witness the sibling bonding moment. _That's progress, of a sort,_ she thought wryly. Leaning back against the doorjamb, she smiled at the sight. Sometimes she was still unable to believe that this was her life – almost-sister-in-law to the Scarlet Witch.

She grimaced at the thought. _How very domestic. Ick._

"What are you doin' here, sis?" Pietro asked, not at all perturbed by the reception of his embrace.

"When you didn't come home after work, I though perhaps Maggie had gotten his magnetically slimy paws on you," she said, giving a disaffected shrug. "And I didn't want you leading him back to our apartment to ambush me."

_Ah, she was worried when he didn't come home on time,_ Rogue translated, seeing how her dark eyes scanned Pietro from head to foot – checking for injuries, most likely.

"So I cast a tracking hex and tracked you down here. What in the nine levels of Hell are you doing in the X-Mansion, bro?" Wanda demanded. Hellfire and brimstone were in her gaze, causing everyone save her brother and his lover to back away a few feet. No one wanted to deal with the Scarlet Witch when she was pissed off; there was no telling what she would do. Mostly because no one – not even Professor Xavier, or she herself – knew exactly what she was capable of.

"Uh…defending my fair love's virtue?" Pietro offered, slanting Rogue a sideways look.

Wanda's eyes narrowed. "What?" she bit out.

"The two of 'em are in deep shit," Logan broke in, gesturing expansively to the two in question with his cigar. Normally he didn't smoke in the house because he knew the secondhand fumes weren't good for the kids – but he was strung out enough without trying to fight off his nicotine cravings.

Rolling her eyes, Wanda dispensed with Logan and turned to Xavier. "For what? For dating? Even Magneto didn't have **that** much of a problem with it."

"Of course, that was when he thought Pietro was gonna try and get me ta come back ta the Brotherhood," Rogue pointed out, keeping her words quiet enough not to be overheard by the blatantly eavesdropping teenagers nearby.

Wanda lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Semantics."

Clearing his throat to gather the other's attention, Xavier said diplomatically, "Rogue and Pietro are not in trouble for 'dating' per se, but rather for the manner in which the faculty and I were alerted to their relationship."

Wanda smirked. "What, ya catch 'em knocking boots in the girl's dorm?"

A growl rumbled up from Logan's chest.

Rogue blushed. "More lahke makin' out in tha pool," she mumbled to the floor. "Half-naked," she added, blush deepening.

Looking the redhead up and down, Wanda chuckled. "You go, girl." She gave Rogue a friendly punch on the arm.

Snorting, Rogue gave a small smile. "Whatevah." _Ah, sisterly bonding. I think… _She frowned minutely as she considered the intelligence of 'bonding' with the Scarlet Witch.

Xavier cleared his throat. "Be that as it may, Rogue, Pietro…Wanda." He lifted a brow at the raven-haired girl, tacitly accepting the fact that she would need to be included in the rest of their conversation. "There are still a few things we need to discuss. Preferably behind closed doors." He gave a meaningful glance to the teenagers gathered around the edges of the room, doing their best to appear invisible as they eavesdropped. Turning his wheelchair towards the door, Xavier said, "If you three would follow me?" Despite the civility with which the question was asked, it was obviously not a request.

Pietro gave his sister a pleading look – pleading with her not to be difficult or blow something up. Wanda sighed and gave an infinitesimal nod, following in Xavier's wheel tracks. Rogue and Pietro exchanged surprised looks and raised eyebrows, and ran to catch up. When they reached the professor's office, Wanda flopped down into a high-backed chair, and crossed her arms over her chest, a bastion of broodiness in the midst of all the confusion. Rogue and Pietro took up their previous positions standing before Xavier's desk. Logan stood with his back against the door, a silent guard against further intruders.

Once Xavier had taken his place behind his desk once more, Rogue asked, "So what were ya goin' ta say before Witchiepoo showed up?" She hid a grin at the murderous glare of death her almost-sister-in-law shot her at the use of the nickname.

Lips quirking up of their own accord at their sisterly byplay, Xavier clear his throat. "As I said, Rogue, while I was originally a tad concerned about your dating a member of the Brotherhood…"

"Wanda and I are not affiliated with Magneto anymore," Pietro interrupted, his cold tone of voice and use of his father's title indicating his stance on the topic.

Logan's jaw dropped and his cigar would have fallen to the floor if not for his quick reflexes.

Xavier just raised a brow in a show of surprise. He normally gave off an air of being omniscient – but in this instance, he was as unaware of the circumstances as anyone else in the Institute. "While I pleased to hear that you have struck out on your own," Xavier continued smoothly, "your former affiliation with the Brotherhood was not the reason for my unease over this matter."

Rogue and Pietro exchanged perplexed looks. They'd expected Xavier to have more of a problem that Pietro was a member of the Brotherhood than the fact they were having sex. True, as her guardian, Xavier was most likely concerned about her falling pregnant or contracting a disease, but she was a high school senior, and knew the risks. To her mind, if she was old enough to risk her life on missions, she was old enough to have sex.

"Then what is, Professor?" Rogue asked, hands clasped nervously in front of her. She gave Pietro a strained smile as he reached out to grasp one fidgeting appendage with his own hand.

"Pietro, how old are you?" Xavier asked.

The white-haired speed demon blinked at this apparent non-sequitor. "I'm sixteen," Pietro said, and then added, "My birthday's in June." His ice blue eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why?"

Xavier sighed heavily. "I was afraid of that," he muttered under his breath.

Rogue exchanged a confused glance with her boyfriend. She shrugged, indicating she didn't know what Xavier was muttering about, either.

Deciding to go on the offensive, Rogue asked, "Professor, what was it ya were gonna say earlier?" He never had finished it, despite the fact that he'd started the sentence twice. It would have been rather funny, if not for the tension in the air, and the precariousness of their situation. Whatever decisions Xavier made would impact the future of their relationship. And while Rogue had planned to move out of the mansion eventually, she still wanted to be a part of the team.

Aloud, Xavier said only, "As I was saying before we were interrupted…" Here he sent Wanda one of those quelling looks that made even the Scarlet Witch sit back and stay quiet – though she did grumble a bit. "I admit that while I was originally concerned with Rogue's involvement with you…I have no problem with the two of you being involved." Seeing how Rogue and Pietro both breathed simultaneous sighs of relief, the professor added quickly, "However…"

Rogue gulped and exchanged a worried glance with her boyfriend. "However?" Pietro asked weakly.

"However, until Mr. Maximoff turns seventeen, I am afraid I am going to have to ask to cease your…carnal activities." Xavier's flush was only a slight tinge of pink, but it extended all across his head. "As of this moment, were you two to engage in any…physical relations…Rogue could be prosecuted for statutory rape."

Rogue opened her mouth to give Xavier a few choice words on what she thought of that threat, when the professor continued, "I wouldn't want to give Magnus any openings to disturb your new life, Pietro."

That took the wind out of her sails. Xavier wasn't the type of person to get someone arrested just because he disliked them. Rogue's mouth closed with an audible click of teeth and she fought back a blush of her own.

Wanda snickered from her sprawl in the one of the armchairs. "This is priceless!" she gasped out. "I never realized Silver's younger than you, Stripes." She smirked. "But then again, he **is** my 'baby' brother."

Logan grunted; whether in agreement, or just surprise that the Scarlet Witch had chosen the same nickname for Rogue as he had, it was unclear.

Pietro grimaced sourly, though there was a twinkle in his eye from his twin's teasing of him. He was obviously pleased he and Wanda were becoming close again – at least, it was obvious to Rogue.

But there were more urgent, if not more important, things at the moment than dwelling on a lessening of sibling rivalry. Rogue decided to broach the subject while Xavier still appeared to be in a good mood. Clearing her throat, Rogue said tentatively, "So…when Pietro turns seventeen…"

Xavier coughed and looked away. "I cannot condone any such…activities of an intimate nature on school grounds by anyone who is still one of my students," he said, a trace of regret in his voice. Turning his eyes on the three teenagers in turn, he said softly, "I'm bound by law here, Rogue, Pietro…Wanda."

Rogue spared a moment to wonder why Xavier was making a point of including Wanda in this discussion – and then decided it would be better for her sanity if she didn't think too much on that. Wanda's birthday was the same as Pietro's, so it followed the same strictures that applied to him, would also apply to her…

The Scarlet Witch in a romantic relationship was a…mind-boggling…concept, to say the least.

"So, now that you've embarrassed them both to death…are we done here?" Wanda asked pointedly, interrupting Rogue's scary thoughts.

Xavier coughed, clearly amused, and quite thankful to have that awkward conversation over with. "Yes, quite."

"Good," Wanda growled, very reminiscent of the Wolverine with her monosyllabic answer. She turned on her booted heel and, after shoving Logan away from the door, threw it open and stalked out of the room.

Only to be corralled by the X-Geeks as she passed by the entrance to the living room.

"What?" Wanda hissed, again very Logan-like.

"We just wanted to talk to you a bit before you left," Evan said, smiling brightly.

Wanda's brow furrowed, the overhead lights glinting off her silver eyebrow ring. "Why?"

Jubilee snapped her gum, loudly, and grinned. "Because if Roguey's dating your brother, then that, like, makes you family!"

Snorting, Wanda rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Ask away – though I can't guarantee I'll answer."

"Fair enough," Scott conceded, waiting for Wanda to seat herself in one of the arm chairs before starting his interrogation. "You and Pietro are living on your own?" he asked.

Wanda gave Cyclops a look, then flicked her gaze to Jean, before nodding. "Yeah," she grunted, smirking. She obviously knew that the telepath had been listening in on their meeting with the professor, and just as obviously didn't care.

"How are you supporting yourselves?" Jean asked worriedly.

"Part time jobs," Wanda said, shrugging off the other girl's concern.

"Doing what?" Evan asked, for once managing to keep his wise cracks to himself.

"I work for the Salem Speedy Delivery Service," Pietro put in, appearing around the corner of the doorway. "Guy who runs it is a mutant, too – X-Ray vision, can you believe that? Saves a fortune on not having a machine in the office; he can tell with one look if there's a bomb or something inside – and he knows about me," he added, leaving off his lurking and coming into the room to stand next to his sister. "I work for a couple hours three times a week but since I deliver about a third of each days' packages he pays me a full-time salary."

"What about you, Wanda?" Jamie asked. He hadn't been at the school when she'd first been let out of the asylum, and he didn't know enough about her – beyond exaggerated versions of her and the X-Men's encounters told by some of the older recruits as ghost stories on the last team campout (which he had discounted as completely made up) – to be truly scared of her.

Scarlet Witch lazed back in the easy chair and gave a devil-may-care grin. "I work at _The Scorpion_."

"_The Scorpion_?" Jean asked, aghast. "The bar on Fifth Street?" 'Bar' was being kind. It was, to put it kindly, a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

At least to a properly brought up girl from New England suburbia.

"Strip club, you mean," Scott corrected sourly. The Scorpion was, in fact, the only such club within Bayville's city limits. Actually on the outskirts, it got a lot of traffic from truckers and the other rougher types of humanity. Normally he'd be worried about a girl their age working there.

Then again, this was the Scarlet Witch they were talking about. Scott actually found himself feeling sorry for the patrons.

"So do you wait tables, tend bar, or…ah…dance?" Evan asked. His platinum eyebrows did the frug and he grinned cockily at her.

Wanda's eyes flashed. "Wouldn't you like to know," she retorted dryly.

"Yes, I would," Evan agreed, nodding his head eagerly.

Snorting softly, Wanda said, "Perverts, the lot of you," before rising from her chair and stalking away.

Scott and Jean exchanged bemused looks, while Evan looked crushed that he hadn't gotten any of the more salient details. Jamie rolled his eye at the obviously growing crush Pietro's nemesis was developing on his sister.

Looking on from across the room, Professor Xavier remarked, "I get the feeling things are going to get…interesting around here."

Logan snorted. "Ain't that the truth," he growled, chomping so hard on his cigar that he bit it half. Face screwed up in consternation, he managed to catch the bitten-off bit before it hit the floor.

Storm kept her amusement to herself. She nodded and said, "I believe that Rogue is just what Pietro needs. Wanda too." She smiled serenely as she watched the couple, who were even now curled up on the couch and mocking a _Survivor _rerun on the television. Pietro had his arm draped fearlessly – but then, for him there was no fear of being drained – across her shoulder, his fingers idly playing with some white locks of hair. "And he is just what she needs, as well."

Logan's countenance grew darker, and he growled at that. "That 'need' of theirs better stay PG-13 rated or I don't care how fast Maximoff runs – I'll gut the little speed demon." With that pronouncement, he stalked away, leaving Xavier and Storm to exchange rueful smiles.

Interesting, indeed.


	7. What Goes Around, Comes Around

**What Goes Around, Comes Around**

* * *

_Magneto's name has gone through several variations; a different one for each of the X-Men incarnations. For the purposes of this fanfic, his name shall be Eric Magnus Lennsherr. Xavier has referred to him as both Eric and Magnus; this is explained by the fact that 'Eric' was his college friend, but when he took on the mantle of Magneto, their friendship ceased. 'Magnus' shall forever be associated with his enemy. Still, they are one and the same._

* * *

Of course, just because Pietro lived with Wanda, instead of at the Xavier Institute, didn't mean he and Rogue weren't spending time together. He was just as fast as he'd ever been, and his and Wanda's apartment was only eighteen miles away. Fifteen minutes by car as Scott drove, ten minutes by air as Storm flew, and twenty-seven seconds by foot as Quicksilver ran.

While at first it was hard for the rest of the X-Men, they eventually became accustomed to seeing Pietro around the mansion and grounds. He soon became a fixture there, always by Rogue's side – especially once he tuned seventeen. Xavier even arranged with Logan for him to join in the other mutant's training sessions.

Rogue was ecstatic to have her boyfriend with her so often. Kitty was happy for her friend; Kurt was rather leery but trusted his sort-of-sister's judgment. Evan had developed a crush on Wanda, and had pretty much given up on his previous enmity with the speedster in his efforts to try and get into the female twin's good graces. Jean just gave a little smile whenever she saw Rogue and Pietro together; she thought that they were sweet and were good for each other, taming each other's wilder impulses.

Scott, however… Scott had taken up Evan's discarded mantel as Pietro's tormentor.

And after almost a year of dealing with Scott's sniping at and about her boyfriend, Rogue was getting fed up with it. She couldn't even watch TV with the other X-Teens in peace without Scott raining on her parade.

Seeing Scott approaching, and knowing he wanted to have another talk with her about her relationship with Pietro, Rogue held out her hand to ward him off. He stopped a few feet away from her and crossed his arms, waiting for her to speak. Closing her eyes, she raised both her middle fingers to her forehead in a gesture of mock-thought and said, "Wait…Ah'm trying ta imagine you with a personality." Sighing in mock-resignation, she removed her fingers and opened her eyes. "It's no use. You're still a dick."

Scott huffed. "I see that Pietro has been a really bad influence on you, Rogue," he said superciliously.

"You have to be kidding, Scott," Kitty broke in from her position on the couch next to Kurt.

Ray paused his fight with Kurt over the remote control to add, "Yeah, Scott, Pietro's been a **good** influence on Rogue." Then Kurt pulled him back into the tussle and they rolled across the floor in front of Jubilee's hastily moved bare-but-with-still-drying-toenails feet.

"She used to be much worse. A real bitch," Amara finished, applying another coat of nail polish to her toes, before trading the bright rose pink for Jubilee's clear-with-gold-sparkles so she could add a second coat.

Throwing his hands up and sighing heavily in the universal gesture for exasperated surrender, Scott left the room to find Jean. Her moods may have been mercurial, but at least they made **sense**.

* * *

Pietro had been aware for some time of how much trouble Scott Summers had been causing his girlfriend. For some reason, Scott had never approached Pietro directly with his reservations about his relationship with Rogue. Pietro figured that had something to do with Wanda's influence, and made a mental note to buy his sister some of those atomic sourball candies she was so fond of. But right now, he had to deal with one meddling mutant.

Having already decided on a plan of action, all that was left was to track Scott down and implement it. If Summers had a girlfriend of his own to spend time with, he wouldn't be harping so much on Pietro's relationship with Rogue. Plus, it was pathetic that over a year after Jean broke up with Dumb Man Duncan, Scott **still** hadn't made a move.

After zipping just inside the door to the rec room, and noticing Scott and Jean sitting on opposite sides of the couch, both sneaking longing looks at the other, Pietro gave a mental cheer. This would fit into his plans perfectly.

Seeing that the two lovebirds were so busy looking/not looking at each other that they hadn't even noticed him, Pietro groaned theatrically. When both of his fellow mutants' attention was on him, he tsked and said, "Boy, there's enough UST in here to cut it with a knife! Why don't you two just admit that you want each other and skip to the naughty part already?" He leered playfully, platinum eyebrows dancing mischievously.

Jean blanched and Scott turned as red as his visor. "I don't think our relationship – or lack thereof – is any of **your** business, Maximoff."

Pietro sighed with put-upon forlornness. "Sure it is, Summers. It's the duty of any man in love to see that the rest of his teammates are as happy as he is. Or, at least, it should be," he clarified, a thoughtful frown on his face. He shook himself and continued, "Me and Roguey are deliriously happy, and I think if you'd just remove that stick from your butt and realize that Red's been waiting **months** for you to make the first move, that you and Jean could be **almost** as happy and me and Rogue are."

Blushing, Jean said, "I think Scott's right, Pietro, it really is none of your business. Thank you for caring, though." _And thanks for bringing it up,_ she sent mentally. _Maybe this will get him to actually **do** something._

_No problem, toots,_ he thought back. Turning to Scott, he sniffed haughtily. "Well, if you both feel that way, I guess I'll go for a run. See ya!" With that, he jetted off to make mischief in another part of the mansion – or find Rogue, whichever came first (and was more fun – Rogue, natch).

* * *

After he found Rogue, Pietro spent the next hour regaling her with tales of his antics. Pretty soon Rogue had a sore stomach from all her laughing.

"So Ah can see you're havin' fun causin' havoc around here, Speedy," Rogue said as they sat by the pool in the cool quiet of the evening.

Wiggling his toes in the water, Pietro grinned. "You know it, babe."

"But what's with ya tryin' ta set Jean an' Scott up?" Rogue asked, bumping his shoulder with her own. "Ah didn't think you'd be one ta play matchmaker."

Pietro shrugged. "Being a yenta is in my blood, I guess."

"A yenta?" Rogue's brows knitted in a frown. "Ah remember Kitty said that once. Isn't 'yenta' tha Yiddish word foh matchmaker?"

Pietro quirked a grin and nodded, but stayed silent.

"Ah didn't know you were Jewish, Silver," Rogue said softly, scooting closer to her boyfriend. "Ah mean, Ah knew Magneto was, but…" But Pietro's father was a sore subject for more than one reason. And Pietro had been raised by his foster parents, besides; were the Maximoffs Jewish?

Pietro frowned slightly and turned to face her. "Well…I'm not, really. My biological mother wasn't, and in Judaism, religion is passed down by the women in the family," he replied. "It's the one part of my heritage from Magneto – aside from the white hair – that I'm not ashamed of."

It was rather telling about their relationship that Pietro wasn't willing to speak of his father by his given name.

After turning the topic over in her mind for a few moments, Rogue offered, "Ah think that if ya believe in a religion, then that makes ya a part of it, no matter what yer parents were. If ya believe in Judaism, then that makes ya Jewish."

Pietro paused in thought, then nodded slowly. "I think you might be right, Rogue," he said, his seriousness evident in both his tone and the fact that he hadn't called her by a nickname.

Wanting to lighten the mood, Rogue grinned and punched his arm. "Ah always am, Speedy," she said, voice dripping with mock-haughtiness.

Pietro snorted and rolled his eyes.

Chuckling, Rogue leaned in to kiss away his frown.

* * *

Delivering news such as this was never easy. But it was part of his duty to these young children he mentored…even if they didn't live in the mansion proper.

Wheeling into the rec room, Xavier waited until the gathered teenagers had quieted down at his entrance before he spoke. "Pietro, I need to speak with you," he said without preamble. "And Rogue, as well," he added as a seeming afterthought.

Pietro looked at him askance, but nodded and got up from his seat on the couch next to Rogue. "Ah…sure thing, Professor X."

Once they were out of earshot of the others and safely ensconced in his private office, Xavier turned to the two teens. He sighed. "I rather think Wanda should be here for this, but I am unable to get a hold of her, and I wanted to be the one to tell you, before you found out from…other sources."

Pietro and Rogue exchanged confused glances.

Sighing, Xavier said, "Pietro, I just received some news regarding your father."

Pietro tensed. "What sort of news?" he asked guardedly.

Sighing, Xavier looked up into the young man's eyes, his own bright with muted sadness. "Rather distressing news, I am afraid. I asked Rogue to accompany you for moral support."

"Moral support?" Pietro asked. He exchanged a confused look with his girlfriend. If Magneto had perpetrated some injustice on the normal humans, not only would it have been all over the news, but he wouldn't **need** moral support. Needing moral support implied that something **personal** was involved, and Pietro had long since grown accustomed to hearing about the latest cruel acts his father had visited upon humankind in the name of proving the superiority of mutantkind.

"Pietro, your father is…" Xavier heaved a sigh. "There's just no easy way to say this. Eric is dead, Pietro. He died of liver failure last night."

Pietro was shell-shocked. He didn't even know how to feel, but that didn't seem to matter much at that moment, since it was as if his emotions had just shut themselves off. He could deal with them later, right now he needed more information. "Liver failure?" he managed to ask.

Xavier nodded slowly, keeping a close eye on the boy's reaction. "Apparently his advanced age coupled with his overuse of his magnetic talents caused a build-up of iron in his bloodstream. Too much for his liver to handle, and so it just shut down. The coroner reports indicate that it most probably precipitated a heart attack or else he might have pulled through."

Pietro nodded numbly. He stood stock-still in silence for several minutes, before finally shaking his head dazedly "I…don't know how to feel," he admitted. "He…was my father, and yet…"

And yet Eric Magnus Lennsherr was also Magneto, one of the most feared criminal masterminds since Al Capone, and quickly following in the footsteps of the much-reviled Adolf Hitler as he sought to prove the superiority of mutantkind by way of humankind's genocide. Magneto had never been much of a father to Pietro, having dumped him into foster care when he was ten, after checking Wanda into that asylum. Pietro had had five father-free years of life before Magneto showed up again, and he couldn't say he had been pleased to see him show up again.

But now that Magneto was dead…

Now that Eric Lennsherr was dead…

Pietro was finally free. Free of his father's influence. Leaving the Brotherhood had only been a stopgap measure; he knew Magneto could track him down at any time. Wanda's hex powers were powerful, but eventually even the threat of her retaliation would not have held Magneto off.

Now neither of them had to worry anymore.

But there was still a small part of Pietro's heart that mourned for what might have been. The **true** father-son relationship that he might have had with Magneto had neither of them been mutants; had his father not lost his mother to childbirth, had Eric not lost his own childhood and family to the concentration camps.

The tension in the air was so thick that even Wolverine's Adamantium claws might not have cut through it. That wouldn't really have induced relaxation, but it might have made Rogue feel less like Pietro was going to snap.

"I…need to think," Pietro said at last. "I'll take care of telling Wanda, Professor. Rogue, I…"

Giving her boyfriend a rather wan smile, Rogue nodded once and gave him a quickly aborted hug. Pietro was practically vibrating, and it was more than just difficult to hold onto him. "Go for a run, Speedy. Ah'll be here for ya when ya get back," she said huskily.

Tossing a grateful look over his shoulder, Pietro did as directed – and was gone in less than the blink of an eye.

Rogue helplessly watched as the metaphorical dust settled in her boyfriend's wake, and felt torn in too many directions. She wanted to cry (because she didn't know if Pietro would or not, even though he **was** hurting), or hit something (Magneto, for dying and making Pietro hurt when he didn't even care about his son as an actual **person**, as opposed to his 'heir'), or scream (about the unfairness of people who actually **have** parents, but they still don't care about you), or run after Pietro (even though she'd never be able to catch up to him if he didn't let her), or just…

Rogue wanted so desperately to make things better for Pietro, and knew she could only be supportive while he worked things out for himself. And that…was really more than frustrating. So she just gave the Professor a helplessly cracked smile, and headed to take a walk and wait for Pietro to come back.

* * *

"Pietro?" Rogue said softly before peeking around 'their' tree. It was the tree they had literally run into each other in front over a year ago, and on their first year anniversary, Pietro had swiped Lance's pocketknife and carved a heart into the trunk, with their initials inside it.

Pietro was almost too busy wallowing in his own confused misery to notice that she knew he was there even without actually having laid eyes upon him.

Almost.

"Hey, Rogue," he said tiredly. "Pull up a patch of moss."

"Thanks," Rogue said, and flopped down next to him. She squirmed uncomfortably, and then, reaching beneath her butt, pulled out a couple of twigs and sticks.

After a few moments, Pietro said, voice still holding a hint of dazed shock, "I told Wanda." He winced belatedly. "When I left she was…hexing up little glass replicas of my fa– Magneto and throwing them against the wall. And smiling as they shattered." He gave a theatrical shudder, but his ice blue eyes were missing the normal spark they had when he was teasing his sister away from her hearing.

"Good thing you still have some paint leftover from when you redid the living room walls," Rogue said, hesitant to ask Pietro to elaborate on…well, anything. His feelings, his thoughts… She'd never actually grieved for anyone before, but she had a feeling it wasn't exactly an easy thing. Even though Pietro and his father had never gotten along, Magneto had always been there, and now…

…he wasn't.

"I want to hate him," Pietro blurted out, voice radiating distress. He glared furiously at the ground. "For making me have to deal with…caring. About him," he qualified.

Rogue stayed silent, sliding over to be a comforting support against his side.

Pietro's face twisted up, and sighing, he slumped down against her. "But I also want to grieve, because I hated him enough when he was a-alive–" he choked to a stop, blinking back tears. "I suppose there was always a part of me that hoped…" Pietro ducked his head. "Hoped that one day my dad would…well, be a **dad**, y'know."

Seeing that her boyfriend was starting to spiral down deeper into depression, Rogue decided to interject…something…to take his mind off his problems. It probably wasn't the **right** something, but she had to at least **try**. "And stop trying ta take ovah tha world," Rogue added wryly.

Giving a soft snort, Pietro blinked tear-misted eyes. "More of a side-effect, but…yeah." He sighed, allowing one tear to fall down his cheek. "Now…I'll never get the chance."

_To know what things could have,_ remained unsaid between them, but still understood between two people who knew each other as well as Rogue and Pietro.

Fiddling with the spiked leather collar around her neck, Rogue started to say something, stopped, started again, and then finally just blurted out, "Ah miss the old Irene." _Share an' share alike…Ah guess._

Pietro perked up a bit; Rogue rarely ever talked about her life in Meridian, and she'd made only a few casual comments about Irene Adler, the blind mutant known as Destiny. Her unexpected broaching of this touchy topic was more than enough to pull him partially out of his funk. "The 'old' Irene?"

Rogue nodded jerkily, eyes focused to the far left of the middle distance. "Ah miss when Ah thought that she took care 'a meh 'cause she cared about meh… Now Ah know that she was only doin' Mystique a favah." Her voice was thick with held-back emotion, her accent even more intense for the wealth of feeling.

"I don't know how anyone could spend so much time around you and not care about you at least a little bit," Pietro said honestly. He privately thought that that was why Mystique stayed away from her children so much – because she was afraid that being reminded of what could have been would cause her to go straight.

And no matter how much better that would be for all concerned, change was still…difficult, under the best of circumstances. Just think about Magneto…

…_or not._ Pietro shoved those dismal thoughts away, and snuggled closer to the love of his life.

Time passed in the small grove of trees, the sun setting on another day, though different from those before.

As always.

Finally, the silence was broken at the twilight's end, stars starting to speckle the night sky with a bright new hope.

"Thanks, Rogue," Pietro said, voice a quiet hush in the stillness of the forest. "For being here for me," he qualified.

"Ah was glad ta," Rogue said honestly. She bit her lip, and stared pensively at the ground. "Ya know, just 'cause Magneto's dead doesn't mean ya don't still have family, Pietro," she murmured. Rogue wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close to her side. "Ya have Wanda and tha rest of tha Brotherhood, and…meh." Flustered at this atypical – for her – outpouring of emotion, she averted her gaze from his searching eyes.

It was too soon for him to be able to smile, but the warmth in Pietro's eyes did it for him. "I know, Rogue."

"Ah…Ah love ya, Pietro, ya know that… Don't ya?" Rogue said, blushing almost as red as her hair. They'd never actually said the words before, but they had certainly been felt.

Maybe it wasn't too soon for him to be able to smile…just a little bit. "Yeah," Pietro replied. "I…I love you, too, Rogue."

She flashed him blinding smile of her own, and a little bit of the darkness in Pietro's heart got burned away. Things might not ever be the same anymore, but…that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. And they'd get through their problems together.


	8. Epilogue: Halcyon And On And On

**Halcyon And On And On**

* * *

**One Year Later**

* * *

A provisional peace reigned in Bayville; with Magneto gone, nearly all mutant-related crime had dwindled down to nothing. It was almost as if Magneto had never been involved in their lives; never started the Brotherhood.

Except for the few newer students at the X-Mansion.

Pietro had never moved into the Institute; instead, when Rogue graduated from high school, she moved in next door to his and Wanda's apartment, and he moved in with her. She was now taking classes at the local college; most were computer classes so she didn't have to worry about touching anyone, but thankfully it was a liberal arts college so no one commented on her normal mode of dress.

They still came to visit the other students often, taking the 'Pietro Express' as Rogue called it. But these days they mostly borrowed Wanda's car; Rogue felt such high speeds were dangerous for the baby, and Pietro could not argue with that, seeing as how he didn't know for sure one way or the other, and Dr. McCoy couldn't even hazard a guess without running extensive tests.

Yes, Rogue was pregnant. They'd discovered it at the end of her first semester of college. Rogue had only been two months along at that point, but thankfully she'd been able to get all computer courses for her second semester, so Pietro wouldn't have to worry about her all day. She and Pietro both agreed it was the best Christmas present either of them had ever gotten – and it had worked the miracle of lifting the last of the lingering malaise left over from Magneto's death from both his son and, surprisingly, his daughter – though Wanda kept complaining that they'd expect her to take babysitter duty all the time.

It was definitely a Christmas to remember. Scott and Jean finally got together over some Evan-spiked eggnog and underneath a large clump of Storm's homegrown mistletoe. And the highly developed sense of the ridiculous that seemed to reign supreme over Bayville saw to it that Wanda didn't hex Evan until **after** he'd cornered her for a kiss.

He got to like having purple hair, though thankfully it wore off before school started – just in time for his and the Scarlet Witch's first date.

Pietro still had his job at the Speedy Delivery Service. He still didn't work full-time, but had doubled his working hours now that he was out of school. With the baby on the way, though, he decided to move up to full-time to lay in some money for when he or she arrived. Pietro looked forward to being the father for his children that he had always wished for Magneto to be for him and Wanda. The guilt-tinged grief he'd felt at his father's passing had finally subsided. The regrets of what might have been would always be with him, but his sadness no longer threatened to swallow him whole.

Logan was surprisingly complacent with Pietro having 'knocked Rogue up' as Evan put it. He only threatened to castrate Pietro if he didn't take care of 'Rogue and the runt.' Rogue thought that Logan being so accepting could possibly jeopardize the structural integrity of reality, but was really too thankful – and too caught up in her nesting instincts – to worry about the Wolverine's possible (lack of) sanity.

The Brotherhood Boardinghouse was now not only derelict, but also empty; it had been condemned at the end of the eldest students' junior year. Lance, Tabitha, Todd and Freddy had had a hard time keeping up with the bills by themselves now that Mystique was gone. Having nowhere else to go, Xavier offered them a home and place on the X-Men's team.

Without the pressure of maintaining a relationship with Kitty, and with Magneto's shadow not dogging his every step, Lance managed to fit it without much hassle. After a lifetime of looking over his shoulder and never feeling safe, now he was.

Tabitha had initially been reluctant to return to the Institute, fearing reprisals from Xavier. But the Professor had a long talk with her about her past – her father especially; he had done a real number on Tabitha's self-esteem – and she finally consented to the counseling she'd been needing for so long. Thankfully Professor Xavier was able to break through the protective shell she'd placed around herself. She and Lance were now dating, and it looked to be more serious than he had ever been about Kitty, or she had ever been about Kurt.

Which was good, because Kitty and Kurt were as tight as ever. And judging by the sappy smiles and knowing blushes they'd been exchanging, Rogue might soon not be the only pregnant teenage mutant in New York. And the fact that Logan didn't seem to be stressing out about **that**, either, was enough to make Kitty want to look for a pod.

Todd had a hard time fitting in at first; he'd lived on his own for so long that it became second nature to supplement whatever meager meal he managed to pull together with insects. He ended up taking refuge in Storm's garden one day, and she found him there denuding the mulberry bushes of locusts. They had talked while she worked, and after a few weeks, he was more comfortable.

Especially since Storm allowed him to eat all the aphids he wanted. She had formerly spent hours spraying her prize roses with insecticides; Todd's way was much more environmentally friendly, and extremely effective.

Freddy, still having a slight crush on Jean, had the hardest time of it. The autumn brought a new crop of students to the school, and a girl named Danielle Moonstar took an (almost – after a literal tussle with Freddy over the last double fudge chocolate chip cookie) instant liking to him. She liked to cook; he liked to eat. And they both loved monster truck rallies and roller derbies. It seemed a match made in teenage mutant heaven.

Or a reasonable facsimile thereof.

A brother-sister pair of mutants from Kentucky showed up. Sam and Paige were quickly assimilated into the Institute; her boyfriend, Jonothon Starsmore, however, seemed to rub everybody the wrong way.

Well, really just Sam, but the newly-christened Cannonball had this 'down home, good 'ol boy' charm, which, when combined with his 'sun shining on a cloudy day' smile kept people from killing him.

Jono lurked in the basement, brooded more than Logan when he was drunk and feeling morbid (as opposed to drunk and feeling horny, or drunk and feeling angry) and loved horror movies and slasher flicks. The creepier the better, the bloodier the better, respectively. His taste in music was even more eclectic than Kurt's, and his mode of dress was even darker than Rogue's at her Gothic peak.

Logan took an instant liking to 'Chamber' as Jono called himself, which was par for the course as of late in the Mutant Mansion's Midnight (and every other time of day) Madness. It was also enough to make even **Storm** start giving him a second glance. Which probably explained why she and Logan were planning on having an outdoor wedding ceremony in April, with Professor Xavier officiating, but didn't explain why the Wolverine asked Rogue to be his 'best woman.'

All in all, things were…good…at the Institute, if not normal (for them) or even less crazy (de nada). Mutants might never be accepted by mainstream society…but that didn't mean they couldn't be happy. It was just another thing that they'd have to work to change.

* * *

THE END


End file.
